The breeding oath

[Selina_Catz]

The Oath:

 

I will not breed for breeding's sake: I will breed because I want the result of that breeding or know that there are people who want it.

 

I will not breed when the AP is full and I can't keep the result of the breeding.

 

I will not contribute to an existing wall: I will breed those those commons that aren't so abundant at the moment.

 

I will if at all possible breed sometime between xx.15 and xx.45.

 

I will not participate in massbreeds

 

Banners can be found here

 

Okay I just want something to be known:

There will be no yelling to people who don't wish to take the oath: this is a game and it is my opinion that there is more than enough yelling and drama here.

 

The oath is meant in a large part as a defence against those people who feel the need to start yelling about selfish and irresponsible breeders every time the AP is full or half of the eggs in the AP are the same breed.

 

Oath takers: Selina_Catz, Vesperina, dracodoctorwhofan, Faeryl, Augrey07, Tatian, NixAyum, Synerje, FaeryChaos, Beautiful Revenge, RoseRed, Draco5, concord, Purpletail162, Cinnamin Draconna, Becka, TTIOT, KooshyKoKo, yellowhorses, SoraNoRyu, engelina, beachbeagle, CastleKeep, anahana, Buggzter, Becca, Mageziya, Lady Aracne, KatWolfdancer, rainybird, MonicaOP, yosofine, DarrkestDrow, Bluheart, RayneKitty, albertina, A. L. Aljan, Takora Drakan, alishaz, cariad_winter, BrigaWillowhawk, Xysticus, Vujeros, Patrick's Acolyte, moota, Vampyre, mamaursula, dragonway, WatersMoon110, lightbird, lola92, Booper45, Dewdropmon, brightheart, Melisande, Pierce, Mordeth, bethcarielle, fan138, Nachtkrieger, Spirit mother, xaviera_x, Kesson, Amatha, MindsEye, Guardian_Angel, LunaRain, Mrs Plinks, cwsocialwkr, Chinook, yzhn2, dragon_mando, ~Belisar*, Silberstreif, Broider-Baroness, cquin, akiska, Trillian, pinkywinky32, rachelle83, laeknishendr, DarkdragoonXHybrid, ShakaFireFly, antepenultimate, Ysaedda, Aryana, Lorhin, Kiwiwee, BrainpanSonata, Micropeep, kibbie, walterll, Laryal, DragNest, Kitsuru, gi_janearng, SLIS, leodoug, Delphine, MissVampire13, Dragonrose974, Red Mare, airaani, AbsolutelyAlexis, TrippKitty, PhantomoftheWolves, awa

 

Supporters: tjekan, Flame Rising, Xylene, raindear, dragonchic, tinnidawg, Brightfires, xgirl30, Chandler87, Alandra, Lastalda, VelvetW, Lythiaren, dk_labyrinth, Tevie, missiourichickenmama, MarniDawg, Sunrise, sportsysummer, Taliax, kitty41188123, Angeles, rockychristine, animetriplicate, shiori, Jackie, skinst, Syphoneira, WildClawCat, syne, Capulator, MinaKitsune, Nalyua, The Kage, Sairye, Gyps13, ArynChris, MurderMayhemxx, Draco Knight, Leap, PhazonDragon, Somariel, starfish102,

 

You're a supporter if you follow the ideas almost all the time but not every time or if you follow some of them all the time.

 

For people who want to discuss multiple eggs being beyond the breeder's control our admin has stated the following:

 

If the AP is overly full, you will only get 1 egg from breeding.

 

_Z_ posted a link to the thread where TJ said that on page 9, should you wish to check the accuracy of the quote.

Edited June 5, 2009 by Selina_Catz

[Vesperina]

Amen.

[TheRookGryphon]

I swear by that anyway. Yay for responsible breeders.

[Faeryl]

*takes oath*

 

Perfect. And it's exactly how I breed <3

[Augrey07]

Hear Hear!

 

 

[Tatian]

Amen^^ I am in, even if I am a little breeder^^

[NixAyum]

Aye aye! *fistpump*

[Synerje]

I'm in, I agree with all that anyway!

[Selina_Catz]

I spend some time making some sort of a banner.

 

[URL=http://forums.dragcave.net/index.php?act=ST&f=4&t=46422][IMG=http://i438.photobucket.com/albums/qq106/Selina_catz/avies%20and%20sigs/0018025.png][/URL]

[tjekan]

Sure, I already do this mostly. In particular, I always try to breed when the AP is not full... your extra eggs are more likely to find good homes that way.

 

However, I should point out that this part:

 

I will not breed those breeds that have piled up in a wall: I will breed those that are less common or are picked up quickly

 

is hard to control for. The reason there are always so many whites and mints piling up isn't because so many people are breeding white-white and mint-mint. It's because people are breeding whites and mints with their rares, or with the common colors there are fewer of. Whites and mints breed well with almost everything. That's why there are so many of them-- they're the byproducts of breeding for the other colors that players really appreciate seeing on the AP.

 

If I want to breed golds for people, unfortunately it's going to mean a lot of whites, because my golds only produce maybe one or two gold eggs in 10.

Edited March 29, 2009 by tjekan

[Selina_Catz]

The reason there are always so many whites and mints piling up isn't because so many people are breeding white-white and mint-mint. It's because people are breeding whites and mints with their rares, or with the common colors there are fewer of. Whites and mints breed well with almost everything. That's why there are so many of them-- they're the byproducts of breeding for the other colors that players really appreciate seeing on the AP.

Yes, but when it comes to the point that 75% off the eggs on the AP are whites for more then two days perhaps it's best to wait a couple of days.

[RoseRed]

Sure, I already do this mostly. In particular, I always try to breed when the AP is not full... your extra eggs are more likely to find good homes that way.

 

However, I should point out that this part:

 

 

 

is hard to control for. The reason there are always so many whites and mints piling up isn't because so many people are breeding white-white and mint-mint. It's because people are breeding whites and mints with their rares, or with the common colors there are fewer of. Whites and mints breed well with almost everything. That's why there are so many of them-- they're the byproducts of breeding for the other colors that players really appreciate seeing on the AP.

 

If I want to breed golds for people, unfortunately it's going to mean a lot of whites, because my golds only produce maybe one or two gold eggs in 10.

But couldn't you breed your golds with say reds? Or blues? Or stones (and make people happy even if you don't get a metallic baby hehe) Or even just take a quickie peek at the AP and see what is there and what isn't, and breed with some color that isn't piled up in there?

 

Now granted this may not work with people who prefer to pair their dragons off with permanent partners I guess, but still maybe look to pairing new metallics and rares with less commonly colored partners in the future?

[Selina_Catz]

That's what I do, I have paired my silvers with several different breeds and when there is a wall of whites I don't breed my silver/white couples.

 

RoseRed, do you want to be added to the list?

Edited March 29, 2009 by Selina_Catz

[tjekan]

But couldn't you breed your golds with say reds?  Or blues?  Or stones (and make people happy even if you don't get a metallic baby hehe)   Or even just take a quickie peek at the AP and see what is there and what isn't, and breed with some color that isn't piled up in there?

Yeah, but every time I change around my dragons' breeding partners I end up inbreeding somebody (most of my dragons are related to each other, due to that "keeping your own eggs" bit.) I don't personally care that much about inbreeding, but a LOT of people do, and they want inbred eggs even less than whites or pinks. Sticking with permanent breeding partners keeps me from producing inbred eggs that won't be wanted. :-)

 

I did change around some breeding partners when the geodes came out, to make stone-stone pairs. Now I breed those pairs almost every week, because everybody wants their eggs no matter what they produce. :-) But unfortunately I did get some inbred eggs for a while till I got everything smoothed out. It's too much collateral damage to do every week just on the basis of normal AP fluctuations.

Edited March 29, 2009 by tjekan

[yzhn2]

Even though I will say that I'm probably not a very "responsible" breeder, I try not to breed things that will really make people angry with flooding the AP. I've given up white x metallic (well, silver in my case) for black x metallic because whites are just too common. It's a good oath, and I may take it eventually, but not while I still feel the need that irresponsibility is part of how I play.

 

(And yes, you can all be furious with me because an irresponsible breeder walked in and posted in your responsible breeding thread.)

 

@RoseRed: But wouldn't that make those other breeds become as common as whites are now in the future? I don't really see how that's solving the problem. Isn't it true that there are very few whites that come from the cave because so many are mass-produced from breeding? Couldn't this happen to other breeds as well?

[Selina_Catz]

Let me just say, that just having the cave blocked for a few minutes, does not in my opinion, count as a wall, it needs to have been ongoing for at least half an hour for that.

Edited March 29, 2009 by Selina_Catz

[FaeryChaos]

This is what I do as well.

 

There has only been 1 time I did a mass breed, but that was for rares. I don't plan on participating in those anymore though...

 

Count me in

[tjekan]

Another thing I used to try to do was time breeding away from the hourly drop, so that any extra eggs I produced would be long gone before the next cave drop. However, this didn't always work since the abandoned eggs would sometimes not be released till the top of the hour anyway. If that hasn't been changed, then there's no point mentioning it as a tip.

[Selina_Catz]

There's always the good old 'pick one egg and then abandon it'.

[Sealim]

I'm a semi-responsible breeder. I breed all the time, for people even though the place is clogged up but I breed mostly stones and for some reason people like those.

[Selina_Catz]

It's the chance for geodes, although my stone couple has only ever given me more stones.

[tjekan]

There's always the good old 'pick one egg and then abandon it'.

Yeah, that's what I mean though. Even when you picked one egg from the clutch right away (usually to keep in my case,) the others would sometimes not abandon till the hour anyway. So frustrating. Everyone was always blaming breeders for it but there was nothing we could do about it.

 

I don't know if that's been changed though... there hadn't been any ongoing blockages lately when I wanted to breed so I haven't kept checking. If that's no longer a problem then "breed away from the hourly cave drop" would be a great addition to the suggestions IMHO. Nobody even cares if the cave is blocked at 8:45 as long as it isn't blocked at 9!

Edited March 29, 2009 by tjekan

[Selina_Catz]

That has only happened to me when the AP was overflowing.

[tjekan]

No, it definitely was happening other times... I remember once I was specifically breeding when the AP was almost empty, and then the eggs I bred didn't show up there till the top of the hour when the cave was blocked.

 

That was a couple months ago though, and like I said I haven't noticed the problem recently, so maybe it's been quietly fixed. When breeding comes back we can check. :-) It certainly wouldn't hurt to err on the side of caution and breed away from the hourly drop, anyway.

[Selina_Catz]

Added that to the first post.